Google for India 2021 highlights: Covid-19 vaccine booking feature and more

Search engine giant on Thursday(November 17) hosted the seventh edition of the Google for India 2021 event.

In 2020, the company had pledged $10 billion in investments in India. Within a year, the company with an aim to enable more people to access the internet, collaborated with Reliance Jio to launch the affordable Android mobile JioPhone Next in India.

Now, Google has announced to incorporate India-specific features to its products and also offer financial aid to micro-SMBs(Small & Medium-sized Businesses) in addition to scholarships for Google carrier certificates.

Google Assistant to help find Covid-19 vaccine slot
During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, Google had introduced bed availability details in nearby hospitals on Google Maps. Now, with vaccine inoculation drive going in full swing around the country, the company is taking a step further by incorporating end-to-end vaccine booking flow to Google Assistant with Co-WIN API (Application Programme Interface) integration.

With this, Google Assistant will be able able to guide users through the process of booking a vaccination appointment on the COWIN website with voice guidance in English and eight Indian languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu, at each step. This will be available in Chrome on Android and begin rolling out in early 2022.

Better voice search results
The company has found that the number of Indians using voice queries daily is nearly two times the global average, and one-third of Google Assistant users in India are communicating with it in local languages for needs big and small.

Google is also doubling efforts to bring information on websites in regional languages. It is bringing a new feature in Search that will give users an option to access web pages from other languages and view them in their preferred local language.

"If Google is not able to locate websites that have information in that language, it will find high-quality content on pages that may be in other languages and translate these into the language of the user’s query. When a user taps the translated title and snippet in search results, they can access the page with the content already translated into their language of choice, or view it in the original language. This feature aims at bridging the information gap that local language users often encounter when searching for information online," said Pandu Nayak, Vice President, Search and Google Fellow.

The search result will also speak out loud on the phone. This feature will be available in Hinglish and five Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil.
Google Pay now supports Hinglish

The company also revealed that Google Pay will also be available in Hinglish. Also, the e-wallet will also get speech to text feature, which will allow device owners to use voice as an input to add account numbers into the app to initiate a payment, and an additional feature to split bills for shared expenses within a group.

Google Search app to offer real-time air quality and weather details

Google, earlier this month, launched area-specific heavy rains alert feature on Google Maps in Tamil Nadu, to help people get real-time warnings and reach a safer place before it's too late.

Now, Google is collaborating with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to offer air quality information of major cities of India.

Also, it is be working with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to launch Weather Alerts for extreme climatic conditions.

Both the features will be available on Google Search. Users can simply type or ask Google Assistant-- 'Air quality near me”, or 'Air quality in Delhi'. It will show real-time AQI information from the nearest station.

Financial aid to micro-SMBs
India is ranked third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China. Now, Google in partnership with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a $15 million (approx. Rs 110 crore) financial assistance program for micro-SMBs.

Indian micro-enterprises will be able to avail loans of Rs 25 Lakh to Rs 1 crore at competitive interest rates. With this fund, they can improve business operations, such as purchasing new machinery and equipment, production infrastructure, and working capital requirements.

Scholarship for deserving students

The company is offering 100,000 scholarships for Google Career Certificates. It is collaborating with NASSCOM Foundation, Tata STRIVE, and SafeEducate to help identify underserved learners across the country for free enrolment to the Google Career Certificate of their choice.

The certification programme is available through Coursera for IT Support, IT Automation, Project Management, Data Analytics and UX Design. Google says the certificates are recognized by top companies in India and students can find employment opportunities at Accenture, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Genpact, Times Internet, and Better.com. It plans to add more to the employer pool.

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